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Copyright at the MSU Library

General guidelines for copyright

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Thanks to the University of Oregon Libraries for allowing remix of this graphic under a Creative Commons license.

Copyright Overview

Definition

Copyright is a legal term that refers to the rights, granted in the U.S. Copyright Act, given to an author/artist/creator to protect their original work.

  • Copyright applies to text, sound, images, moving images, and graphic art.
  • The owner of a copyright has the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, license, and to prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work.
  • Everyone is a copyright owner. Once you create an original work and fix it, like taking a photograph, writing a poem or blog, or recording a new song, you are the author and the owner.

Fair Use

In academia, reuse of work is often based on the principle of fair use. Fair use allows limited use of copyrighted material without obtaining permission from the copyright owner. There are few concrete rules for fair use. Instead, four factors are considered:

  • The purpose and character of your use
  • The nature of the copyrighted work
  • The amount and substantiality of the portion taken
  • The effect of the use upon the potential market

This Fair Use Checklist is based on a document created by Professor Kenneth Crews and the staff of the Copyright Management Center at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Based on the above listed four factors of fair use—purpose, nature, amount and effect—the checklist was created to help educators, librarians and others evaluate content uses to determine if fair use applies.

In 2012, the Association of Research Libraries released the document Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries which provides guidance to libraries and library patrons in the appropriate use of information resources for educational purposes.  

Copyright Consulting

Although we do not offer legal advice, the library can help you navigate copyright, your rights, and your ability to reuse work. Contact https://ask.lib.montana.edu/ for help.

For more information on copyright, visit www.copyright.gov.
For patent questions, contact the Technology Transfer Office.